Three In Other Languages

  Did you know that you can complete an ITTT online course in the comfort of your own home and at your own pace? In this TEFL review video George talks about his experiences as an ITTT online student. ITTT offers a variety of TEFL/TESOL online courses. For example, for teachers who are considering working with younger students, ITTT offers the Certificate in Teaching English to Young Learners. Young learners can be one of the most rewarding of all groups to teach and ITTT's course will provide you with the tools to be an effective classroom teacher. To find out more about this course and other TEFL courses ITTT offers simply follow the links above. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word thorough. This word is used as an adjective and means being careful about detail. The word comes from the Middle English word thorow, which came from the Old English thurh. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. When we teach English we have to make sure we introduce the new language in a balanced way, this means we have to balance the introduction of new vocabulary, grammatical structures and...  [Read more]

  Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This unit covered the future tenses, including their form and usage. The unit not only helped to develop my understanding of the different expressions that can be used in expressing future situations, but has also helped to solidify my understanding of the present and past tenses and similarities between the three. The future tenses would be a particularly fun unit to teach, prompting students to look to, plan...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word "thanatology". This word refers to the description or study of death and of the psychological mechanisms for coping with the phenomena of death. The word derived from Greek mythology where Thanatos was the personification of death. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This unit reviewed the future tenses including their usages and descriptions. Like the other "tenses" units examples of...  [Read more]

EFL stands for English as a Foreign Language and is to almost all purposes the same as ESL, English as a Second Language. These two are also equivalent to ESOL which means, English to Speakers of Other Languages. For each of these terms, when we talk about the teaching of them, we add a ‘T’ to the front of each acronym and hence we arrive at the terms TEFL, TESL and TESOL. As they are basically the same we will refer to just one from here on, TEFL for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language and EFL for English as a Foreign Language. Almost all TEFL teaching positions require a minimum qualification of a 100 to 120-hour TEFL certification. Courses provided to cover this certification are usually delivered by one of three methods, namely, onsite courses, online courses and combined...  [Read more]

  This video covers the difference between 'principal' and 'principle'. These two words often cause confusion for English learners due to their similar spelling. The word 'principal' can be used as a noun and as an adjective. As a noun, it refers to a person of authority, like a school principal, the head of a school. When used as an adjective, it means 'leading' or 'primary', like a principal cause or reason. The word 'principle', on the other hand, is only used as a noun and refers to a moral or standard, like the principle of free speech. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This...  [Read more]

There are many different methods to teach grammar, but this essay will present the three that might be the most effective in retaining student interest. 1.Situational Presentations2.Text and Recordings3.Test Teach Test 1.Teaching grammar via Situational Presentation In order for grammar to have meaning, it needs to be placed within a context. For instance the preposition 'beside' has no meaning to a student unless it's placed within a context. Using a model sentence such as the 'The bread is beside the toaster' gives the word a basic context. Situational presentation refines the context and thus the meaning by building a 'situation' around the model sentence. It can be presented in three stages with the following example of teaching prepositions based on an airplane ride.Stage...  [Read more]

  Moving further down our list of the parts of speech, we have our prepositions. Prepositions show a relationship between a noun or a pronoun and the rest of the sentence. We have three main categories: time, place, movement as well as a miscellaneous category that doesn't fit the other three. Here, we can have prepositions of time: before, during, in, at or on. If I said, "I work at eight o'clock," I'm sharing a relationship between the time "eight o'clock" to the rest of the sentence. We have our prepositions of place: in, at, on, under, in between. If I said, "The book is under the table," I'm showing a relationship between the table and the rest of the sentence. Then, we have our prepositions of movement. These show movement: towards, from, to or through. I could say, "He...  [Read more]

Like the people of other nations, Thai people face many problems when trying to learn English; some of these problems are cultural and some are more rooted in the many obvious differences between the two languages. Different age groups or students of different levels may not always face the same problems. A class of intermediate children is likely to have different problems to those of an adult class of beginners. One issue that can be quite frustrating as a teacher is rooted in the Thai culture of not wishing to lose face. This often leads to students being shy and unresponsive in class. They are scared of making mistakes in front of their peers as this would cause them to lose face. Another issue that is based on culture and can also be frustrating for a teacher is a tendency...  [Read more]

  The two most common usages for the present simple tense are habits and routines, as well as general facts and truths. Our example of routine would be 'I teach every Monday.' We've used our subject 'I', our base form 'teach' and 'every Monday' speaking about the routine that I have. We also have our general facts 'The sun rises in the east.' Here, 'the sun' would follow under the pronoun 'it' so we've had to conjugate our verb per our pattern and finish our sentence. We could also talk about general truths such as likes or dislikes. 'I like football,' or 'He likes football.' Of course, there are other usages but these are the two most common. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online...  [Read more]

The motives people have, with regard to undertaking such an intensive and demanding course as a TEFL(Teaching English as a Foreign Language), are varied: a desire to live and work in some exotic location; to meet and interact with new people from all walks of life and, indeed, all corners of the globe: to enhance their existing skills or supplement a CV; to forge a different career path or, more altruistically, to seek to improve the lives of others by enabling them to communicate with the wider world while perhaps benefiting them in both social and financial contexts. I would like to state that the latter, decidedly the most admirable one, was my motive - but it was not. My motive, rather ironically, was to become a better English teacher to my native English speaking ...  [Read more]

Humans speak with each other by creating sounds. That is how we communicate with each other. Over the centuries the different languages have created systems of grammar to explain how the words in their languages work. Sometime after that, they began to create systems to explain how the sounds, or phonemes, of the different words work. Two disciplines arose out of this: phonetics and phonology. Phonetics is the study of the sounds themselves. In the world there are a limited number of possible sounds which the human vocal tract can produce. Of these sounds, the distinctive pronunciations of the different languages are produced. But how are theses sounds produced and represented? The answer to this question is the area of study of Phonetics. Generally, Phonetics is ...  [Read more]

Humans speak with each other by creating sounds. That is how we communicate with each other. Over the centuries the different languages have created systems of grammar to explain how the words in their languages work. Sometime after that, they began to create systems to explain how the sounds, or phonemes, of the different words work. Two disciplines arose out of this: phonetics and phonology.Phonetics is the study of the sounds themselves. In the world there are a limited number of possible sounds which the human vocal tract can produce. Of these sounds, the distinctive pronunciations of the different languages are produced. But how are theses sounds produced and represented' The answer to this question is the area of study of Phonetics. Generally, Phonetics is subdivided into...  [Read more]

  There's another activity for comparing and contrasting the tenses focusing here in this activity on the present perfect and the present perfect continuous. So in the activity, students will start at the start and roll a die. Perhaps they can roll a 5. They will read 'something you've been learning for a long time'. The appropriate sentence may be 'I've been learning English for a long time.' The next student may go and roll 4. They read 'a beautiful place you've visited.' Then, rather than the present perfect continuous, they would use the present perfect tense: 'I visited Paris.' You can encourage students to even ask follow-up questions, which would also include other tenses: 'What was so beautiful about Paris?' Now, this activity will be particularly good for your more...  [Read more]

The English language was created in England. Throughout history, this language has spread to many parts of the world. It is used as a link language for International business and diplomacy. According to Madhukar N. Gate, it has taken thousands of words from other languages such as French, Latin, German, Greek and so on. We can even find Sanskrit words in English. For example: Guru and Pundit are two Sanskrit words used in English. English grammar is quite simple, in many languages nouns have grammatical gender which makes some verbs and adjectives change. This doesn?t happen in English. The adjective ?big? is used with all nouns such as man, woman, child, book etc, as well as applying to both singular and plural nouns. Counting large numbers in English is very simple. For...  [Read more]

The English language was created in England. Throughout history, this language has spread to many parts of the world. It is used as a link language for International business and diplomacy.According to Madhukar N. Gate, it has taken thousands of words from other languages such as French, Latin, German, Greek and so on. We can even find Sanskrit words in English. For example: Guru and Pundit are two Sanskrit words used in English. English grammar is quite simple, in many languages nouns have grammatical gender which makes some verbs and adjectives change. This doesn't happen in English. The adjective 'big' is used with all nouns such as man, woman, child, book etc, as well as applying to both singular and plural nouns.Counting large numbers in English is very simple. For example,...  [Read more]

The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) is a government backed scheme that has been operating for over 30 years. Every year around 5,000 foreign nationals are placed into schools right across Japan with the intention of raising the language skills of young people. Unlike many similar programs in other countries, the JET Program also has a strong focus on cultural exchange between participants and the local population. Competition for places on the program is generally very tough as successful applicants receive a competitive salary and a range of extra benefits. The program is open to college graduates up to the age of 40, although its status as primarily a youth culture exchange means that recent graduates have a greater chance of success. The main criteria required is a minimum...  [Read more]

The motives people have, with regard to undertaking such an intensive and demanding course as a TEFL(Teaching English as a Foreign Language), are varied: a desire to live and work in some exotic location; to meet and interact with new people from all walks of life and, indeed, all corners of the globe: to enhance their existing skills or supplement a CV; to forge a different career path or, more altruistically, to seek to improve the lives of others by enabling them to communicate with the wider world while perhaps benefiting them in both social and financial contexts. I would like to state that the latter, decidedly the most admirable one, was my motive - but it was not. My motive, rather ironically, was to become a better English teacher to my native English...  [Read more]

Volunteer English teaching has been an important part of the TEFL world for many years, with countless schemes operating in many parts of the world. Most of these opportunities are located in developing countries where access to affordable language lessons is not widespread and where people often see improving their English as a clear path towards better jobs and a better future for them and their families. However, while these schemes provide a very valuable service, there are now increasing numbers of online volunteer based teaching platforms that are able to provide help to even more people worldwide. There are many individual reasons for wanting to offer your services as an online volunteer English teacher. For many people the reward of helping someone in need and seeing them make...  [Read more]

Our TESOL course in South Africa is the ideal choice for anyone wishing to gain an internationally recognized TESOL certificate before heading off to teach in the rest of Africa or further afield. South Africa has so much to offer visitors that you will be spoiled for choice when it comes to sight-seeing and other activities. Adventure sports enthusiasts are well catered for with surfing, rock-climbing, abseiling and others all popular and accessible activities in the country. Wildlife lovers will be able to witness lions, rhinos, elephants and more in their natural environments on safari in the national game reserves such as the Kruger National Park and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. However, South Africa is more than its awe inspiring landscapes and wildlife; it is a country with a...  [Read more]

  This presentation is going to focus on the use of course books, materials and teaching aids. There are many materials that we can bring to our classroom that will help with the teaching of our lessons and these include, though they're not limited to, things such as the wipe board, similar to the one that we're using here, various types of visual aids, created or bought worksheets, the use of cassettes CDs and DVDs and the use of video and in these classroom materials, we can also include things such as dictionaries and course books, various types of resource books that we'll have a look at and other materials such as photo copiers, computers, OHPs. So what we'd like to do is just to take a general look at some of the issues relating to each of these types of materials. Below you...  [Read more]

What qualities and qualifications do employers of ESL teachers look for? First we need to say that there are no hard and fast rules to answer this question. There are a huge range of requirements worldwide, depending on the country, type of school, nature of the job, type of contract and so forth. The information given here is therefore general. There are a number of generally recognized requirements that employers are looking for from their teachers. You may need one, two, three or all of the following to get any particular job. It is unlikely you will find a job without any of these: Many ESL teaching jobs worldwide require the minimum of a TEFL certification from this list. As the nature of the job, or country specific employment requirements increase, so the need for other qualities or...  [Read more]

There are a number of EFL teaching scenarios that involve tutoring. The most obvious is that of one-to-one teaching. This can take place in a school, a language center, at a business or privately. Regardless of the teaching scenario, the route to becoming a TEFL tutor is basically the same as becoming a TEFL teacher. In general there are three ways to gain the certification required to become a TEFL tutor. They all involve a course with a minimum of 120 hours of training. This can be done from anywhere in the world with a computer and an internet connection. Typical 120-hour courses give you up to six months to complete the course, working at your own pace. These courses will cover the main aspects of EFL teaching, those being, learning about teaching methodology and learning how to teach...  [Read more]

The first major factor that has an impact on how long it will take to get TEFL certified is which type of course you choose to take. There are three main TEFL course types to be aware of: The most common form of in-person TEFL course is the four-week, 120-hour TEFL certificate. Trainees on this course usually travel from their home country to one of many locations around the world to take the course. Courses should involve a theory component, covering language awareness and teaching skills, and a practical teaching component where trainees teach classes of real English language learners and receive feedback. These courses usually take four weeks to complete and therefore some form of accommodation is required for the duration of the course. This and the travel aspect, make this form of...  [Read more]

We should start by acknowledging that there are some countries where a degree is required for certain teaching jobs. However, even within these countries there are often opportunities for teachers without a degree. In such situations you would need to be more flexible in terms of the type of job and conditions. As we will see later, undertaking volunteering or internship programs are examples of such flexibility. The main point here is that you can teach in many countries without a degree, provided you do have some other attributes or qualifications that employers are looking for. One of the most important qualifications worldwide for EFL teachers is the TEFL certificate. If you have a certificate of at least 120 hours then you should be able to find a number of jobs available to you. You...  [Read more]

Before we answer this question we will first look at the three most common routes towards TEFL qualifications. A TEFL qualification is usually a prerequisite when looking for TEFL employment of any kind. These are: 1) Online courses: a 120-hour TEFL certificate course is the entry level qualification for most jobs. This type of course is conducted 100% online. 2) In-class courses: this type of course is conducted 100% in-class at a location somewhere in the world. Typically these courses also involve teaching practice. 3) Combined courses: this type of course is conducted by a combination of online study followed by a short in-class attendance to complete teaching practice. Once you have completed your chosen TEFL certification course, there are three common working options for TEFL...  [Read more]

For the inexperienced teacher of TEFL, the question of what to teach presents a very scalable hurdle. There is the matter of dividing the material into different lessons, gauging the students' levels and progress, and making sure what is being taught is relevant and technically accurate. However, for the native speaker who can always fall back on their own intuitive knowledge, these are not real problems. The true challenge, then, comes when a new teacher must determine how to teach their classes. There are a multitude of different TEFL-teaching methods for a teacher to choose from. Though most of these will ultimately be left by the wayside, it is important to gain an understanding of each before the teacher decides which is right for them. The first teaching method ...  [Read more]

There are a number of methods and approaches for teaching language to non-native speakers. This paper will attempt to compare four popular methodologies: The Grammar-Translation Approach, The Direct Approach, The Audio- lingual Method, and PPP (with ESA as an alternative to PPP). The Grammar-Translation Approach was historically used to teach Greek and Latin. Classes using this approach are taught in the student’s mother tongue, with little active use of the target language. Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists. Grammar instruction provides the rules for putting words together. Study involves the reading of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis; little or no attention is given to pronunciation. 1The Direct Approach was...  [Read more]

There are a number of methods and approaches for teaching language to non-native speakers. This paper will attempt to compare four popular methodologies: The Grammar-Translation Approach, The Direct Approach, The Audio- lingual Method, and PPP (with ESA as an alternative to PPP). The Grammar-Translation Approach was historically used to teach Greek and Latin. Classes using this approach are taught in the student?s mother tongue, with little active use of the target language. Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists. Grammar instruction provides the rules for putting words together. Study involves the reading of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis; little or no attention is given to pronunciation. 1 The Direct Approach was...  [Read more]

  This particular methodology is known as a straight arrow ESA lesson. If every single lesson that we undertook with our students was a straight arrow ESA lesson then it is quite possible that the students would be able to predict what is going to come up next and whilst this is good for the lower level students, then it could potentially become a little bit boring for our higher level students. So what Harmer did in his ideas about ESA, was to generate two other types of ESA lesson that we can use to try and generate a little bit more interest. So, the other two types of ESA lesson that we can follow: The first is known as a boomerang lesson and the second is known as a patchwork lesson and what we're going to do is to have a look at those other types of ESA lesson in a little bit...  [Read more]